Professor McDaniel Discusses Power of Money on California Capitol Committees

KQED (SAN FRANCISCO) -- San Francisco State political scientist Jason McDaniel said caucus leaders reward generosity to other Democrats because term limits and campaign finance laws have curbed the power of individual politicians and made the party more important. “I don’t think it’s a quid pro quo. Look at it this way — Who would you trust more? This is a team, a team effort, is how they think about it,” he said. “And if you are on a team and someone is out for their own stats, like in basketball if you give them the ball and they never pass the ball — I think that’s how leadership sees these kind of things.” It’s a question of “who can we trust more, not who can raise more money and has better connections to the big money industries,” McDaniel said.